Futari wa Pretty Cure: A New Legend

by Ashbel Longhart

Ichi Dai had a somewhat good life. Working at his uncle's orphanage, taking care of the kids, and so on. But on his birthday, he was suddenly transported to PreCure no Sekai. After a year of living in this new world, he later finds out that Grongi are here, causing chaos and death wherever they go. As the new Kamen Rider Kuuga, he must protect this world's smile. "Chou Henshin!"

14. Ride 14: The Trust Between Friends

Hello Fanfiction readers! Ashbel Longhart here to bring you another chapter after so long! Sorry I haven't updated but I was focusing my attention on another one of my stories so I can have more breathing room. Now that I do, I can do this story again! Cue disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Kuuga or Futari wa Pretty Cure. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own this story and my OC's.)

Alright, last time, Kiriya made his first appearance in front of the group, impersonating as a student at their academy! Dai had made a full recovery and took down any remnants of Ginoga. Meanwhile, Nagisa had forgotten to give Dai his notebook back and later discovered images of the 'Black Kuuga' which led to her and Honoka questioning Dai about his knowledge. And being the honest guy that he is, did just that. Now it's time to pick off from there! Let's ride! Chou Henshin!

---

Ride 14: Are You Kidding!? Pretty Cure Impostors Go Wild! The Trust between Friends!

---

(One Year Ago)

"You didn't have to tell the truth, you know?" Nagisa said as she watched Dai clean her family's apartment bathroom, scrubbing the floors extra hard to make sure he did not miss a single spot.

"I was the one who wasn't keeping an eye on the stove and nearly burned down the kitchen." Dai said as he scrubbed the floor, not looking away from one out of many chores he was assigned to do for the next two weeks.

"Yeah, but that's only because you looked away in order to help me with my homework." Nagisa said, feeling guilty as she allowed Dai to take the fall in what she felt was supposed to be both their punishments.

"It's fine." Dai reassured Nagisa as he looked up from the floor to look at her. "The fact that I did look away shows that I'm getting a bit rusty. Now I know I need to cook more or else I'll lose a skill I worked hard on to get."

"You could have lied, you know."

"Lying is bad."

"What are you, a kid?" Dai simply laughs. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just I've heard that more than you think." Dai said. "My parents taught me that a person should always take responsibility for his or her actions and face the consequences. Me lying would just be me trying to avoid said responsibilities and consequences."

"Is that why you're so honest?" Nagisa asked for she has never seen Dai tell one single lie whatsoever since the 2 weeks she's known him.

"Yeah." Dai nodded. "And also I'm a bad liar so it's better to tell the truth than try to lie and get caught later."

"Sometimes I think you're way too honest." Dai simply laughed again. "You've been told that before, haven't you?"

"More than you think."

---

(One Year Later)

"Dai-kun," Nagisa spoke up. "We've wanted to ask you this for a long time and after seeing this, we want answers. How do you know your powers so well and how do you know about the Grongi? Please, answer us…"

There, she said it. The question she and Honoka had wanted to know for a long time but never got a proper explanation because of certain interruptions. Namely the Dark Zone for her and Honoka and the Grongi for Dai.

She and Honoka stood in front of Dai, right outside the building as the Presentations had ended. Nagisa looked at Dai, anxious.

What would he say? Would he lie and hide the truth for once? Will he tell the truth like the honest person he is? Or would he tell a half-truth, half-lie?

She mentally slapped herself, forgetting who she was standing before. It was Ichi Dai, the most honest person she's had the pleasure of meeting. Dai would always tell the truth over telling a lie any day.

"Would you girls believe me when I say that I'm from another world where my powers and the Grongi are part of a TV show?"

Which is why she was surprised when Dai had went and said that.

"Eh?" Both she and Honoka said, confused.

---

(Insert STRIKE BACK by BACK-ON)

(Instrumental) The song starts as the camera rises up to show the legs of Kuuga before we get a sudden screen shot of Cure Black and Cure White before go back to Kuuga. Just as the camera is at the Arcle, we get a sudden shot of Mepple and Mipple before the camera gets to his chest. We then get another sudden shot of The PreCure cards surrounding Gouram before we go back to Kuuga whose back was facing the camera. He then suddenly turns around and punches the screen, cracking it as the title appears.

(Kidou sura kaerarenai kurai no kakuritsu da to shite mo) We now see Nagisa playing lacrosse with her team, catching a ball as Mepple is seen sleeping from Nagisa's bag.

(IPAASENTO demo areba mochiron teikou desho?) We then see Honoka with the members of the science club, doing an experiment that ended in an explosion as Mipple just giggles at the scene.

(Shosen, "unmei" to nagetsukerareta tte, No I won't!) We go to the city where police are examining a dead body. Ryō looks at the body before he walks away and gets out his phone, calling Dai.

(Hikkuri kaeshite, Because datte kimi to mirai wo miretara saikou janai?) Dai, riding on the TryChaser 2000, gets the call from his radio and speeds up, passing both Nagisa and Honoka as he races to meet up with Ryō.

(Bring it on! 'Cuz I'm just gonna grow up in the battle HEY! buchinuku donten!) Suddenly, the sky turns dark before the Dark King and his subordinates appears as well as an army of Zakenna appeared. Appearing with him was a shadow figure of N-Daguva-Zeba along with an army of Grongi.

(Still burning my fire ten wo kirsaku raimei I gotta kakikesu Nightmare tada mirai ga mitakute!) Nagisa and Honoka step in fear before Dai suddenly appeared behind them and gave them his signature smile and a thumbs up.

(Kako, mirai, soshite ikiteru ima, I ain't scared of my past and now for takusareta asu) Seeing his smile seemed to steel the girl's resolve as they took out the Queen PreCure and Dai summoned the Arcle belt.

(Screaming out for my pride!) A light then suddenly appears and appearing from it was Kamen Rider Kuuga along with Cure Black and Cure White, ready for battle.

(Namida mitakunai kara, sakebi tsudzukeru yo! Zutto...) Cure Black and Cure White engage a battle with some Zakenna before taking on Pisard, IIkubo, Poisony, Kiriya, and Gekidrago.

(I'm never falling down! oi kaze wo se ni fukitobasu Destiny!) Both sides trade blows for a bit before both girls held hands and fired their signature Marble Screw.

(Kono senaka ni aru, egao mamoritai kara! Zutto...) We see Kuuga kicking way a few Grongi, bashes them with the Dragon Rod while in his Dragon form, shoots a flying Grongi with his Pegasus Bowgun in his Pegasus form, slash a few more Grongi with his Titan Sword in his Titan form.

(I gotta blast off your pain for you and me! kanashimi nante Rest in peace!) Dai and the girls meet regroup as they face both the Dark King and N-Daguva-Zeba. Dai charges up a Mighty Kick before he jumps.

(Nando demo...) The girl then threw another Marble Screw as Dai kicks towards the two beings of darkness with the Marble Screw following close behind him before a light overtakes everything and we see a quick look at the blue sky before the song ends.

---

(Dark Zone)

The Dark Zone. As always, the dimension was filled with nothing but swirling darkness and at the center of it all was the Dark King.

"The legendary guardians of the Garden of Light are becoming more of a nuisance than I thought." The Dark King said, his voice echoing in the dimension as his red eyes stared down at Poisony who was sweating under his gaze.

Then again, who wouldn't?

"There is no need to worry, Dark King-sama." Poisony assured despite sweating bullets.

"To conquer the Garden of Light and begin our eternity, that is our goal."

"Yes, I know."

"The place where the two stones disappeared to…" He was of course speaking of the Garden of Rainbows, the world where our heroes lived.

"I will return them to the Dark Zone soon." Poisony said, finally looking up to meet her lord's gaze.

"I will hold you to that." Dark King said before Poisony took her leave.

As she was walking, she met up with her fellow General, Ilkubo.

"If things keep going this way…" He began as Poisony started pacing around.

"I know." Poisony said.

"Dark King-sama is no doubt quite irritated at us."

"I know, dammit!" She shouted, having stopped pacing to turn and shout at Ilkubo.

He then asked, "Will you be okay?"

"What do you mean? Do you think I will fail? Why do you even make a joke like that?" Poisony said, feeling insulted as she turned to leave. "I will definitely bring back the Prism Stones. I'm not like Pisard and Gekidrago."

"You forget that they were defeated because those legendary guardians had help from the one known as Kuuga." Ilkubo pointed out. Why his lord makes such a big deal out of the unknown warrior was still unknown to him, but he planned to find out soon.

"Hmph! Just because I haven't faced him yet doesn't mean I don't know he's a threat." Poisony said. After all, the number of Grongi he's defeated told her enough.

"It's only because of him that Pisard and Gekidrago lost. Without him those girls are nothing." Poisony said before she finally took her leave to accomplish her mission.

---

(The Next Day)

"Do it right, will you?"

"Mumumumumu…"

"Yah! It's salty!"

"Well duh! It's salt!"

All around Nagisa, students were talking as they were currently in Home Economics. As others talked amongst themselves, Nagisa was cutting up strawberries but her mind was someplace else.

'Another world…The Grongi and Dai's powers being nothing more than pieces of fiction from a TV show…'

As she absent mindedly removed the top portions of strawberries, her mind wandered back to where Dai told her and Honoka…everything.

---

(A Week Ago)

"Would you girls believe me when I say that I'm from another world where my powers and the Grongi are part of a TV show?"

"Eh?" Both she and Honoka said, confused as they looked at Dai like he had grown a second head.

"Heh, I guess I sound pretty crazy saying it like that." Dai said, scratching the back of his head as he gave an awkward smile.

"A-Ah…Ahahahaha! That's a good one, Dai-kun!" Nagisa said, trying to laugh what Dai said off. "Saying something like that, you're really bad at lying, you know?"

"I'm not lying." Dai said, making Nagisa shut up and reminding her once again who she was talking to.

"W-We don't understand." Honoka said. "Another world? Part of a TV show? What do you mean?"

"I guess I should tell you two, the secret I've been keeping from you for a year now." Dai said.

'He's hidden a secret from us for a year?' Both girls thought. They boy they had known for a good year had kept a secret from them? Why? What could it be?

Dai took a deep breath in before letting a deep breath out. Once he calmed his breathing and beating heart, he faced the girls with a serious face that made the girls tense.

"I'll start by saying that I, Ichi Dai, am from another world." The girls gave the boy looks of disbelief but Dai continued speaking. "I was sent here by Kadoya Tsukasa in order to help protect this world from the stories that should not be a part of this world."

"Stories?" Honoka raised an eyebrow at that, making a face that said she wanted to know what he meant.

"My powers and the Grongi, they're all nothing more that pieces of fiction." Dai said, placing a hand where his Arcle would be at. "Meaning my powers and the Grongi were never supposed to exist in the first place."

"Wait, wait, wait! Time out!" Nagisa said, her head feeling a bit dizzy from all this info she couldn't make heads or tails of. "Who is this Kadoya Tsukasa? What do you mean your powers and the Grongi are just pieces of fiction?"

"The man who sent me to this world, Kadoya Tsukasa, is a man who travels different worlds. He's also like me, a Kamen Rider."

"Kamen Rider?" Both Nagisa and Honoka tilted their heads in confusion.

"What's a Kamen Rider?" Nagisa asked, having never heard of the title.

"Kamen Riders are masked people who either protect or threaten humanity. They're either heroes who protect and aid humanity, or they're villains who want to conquer or just want to destroy humanity. No Rider is the same as the last; they all come in many shapes, sizes, and powers."

"T-Then…W-What are you-mepo?" Mepple spoke up from Nagisa's pocket, he and Mipple making themselves known from the pockets of their respective partners.

"I'm either a hero who protects people's smiles or I'm a destroyer who can threaten the world itself." Dai said, not bothering to sugar coat that Kuuga's powers were dangerous no matter what purpose it was used for. "I like to think I'm the former-no, rather I want to be the former."

"What do you mean you could threaten the world?" Honoka asked, confused. Dai was one of the nicest persons she's ever met, always willing to help others. How could he threaten the world?

"It's…better if you don't know." Dai said, trying to hide the fact about Kuuga's more…dangerous powers.

Nagisa was having none of that, however. "Does it have anything to do with that Black Kuuga?"

"You can say that." Dai said. "But we're getting off topic. You wanted to know who Tsukasa is."

While the girls didn't like how Dai changed to subject, they reluctantly decided to ask about it another time in favor of getting the answers they wanted.

"To answer you girls, Tsukasa is, or rather, was another Kamen Rider. I don't think he can actually fight given his age." Dai said.

"So wait, this Tsukasa guy is like you?" Nagisa asked.

"In a way." Dai said. "Most people know him as Kamen Rider Decade, the Rider who travels between worlds."

"I'm sorry, but did you just say he can travel between different worlds?" Honoka asked and Dai nodded. "But…But that can't be possible!"

"But it is true." Dai insisted. "Plus, he isn't the only one who can travel between worlds. Other Riders can do it too, though how they do it is beyond me." That was always that struck him as strange. How do other Riders find ways to travel between different worlds? Did a Dimensional Wall just suddenly appear in front of them and they just go through?

Questions for another time for he was getting off topic again.

"Then…that would mean that the multiverse theory is true!" Honoka said, looking a bit excited at this scientific discovery.

"But what about the part where you said that your powers and the Grongi are nothing more than pieces of fiction?" Nagisa asked, wanting to know the answer to their other question.

"Well, to put it bluntly, Kamen Riders aren't real." Dai said.

The girls and their fairy partners' response to that was: "Eh?"

"What do you mean-mipo?" Mipple asked, confused.

"I'm saying Kamen Riders is nothing but a kid's show, at least in my world it is." Dai said. "With that fact that the Sekai no Hakaisha(Destroyer of Worlds) himself appeared before me and sent me here, then Kamen Rider do exist."

"S-Sekai no H-Hakaisha-mepo?" Mepple stuttered. For some reason, the title alone made him nervous and scared.

"It's better if you don't know." Dai said.

"So wait, let me get this straight." Nagisa said. "In your world, Kamen Riders is just a kid's show. And Kuuga and the Grongi are nothing more than pieces of fiction."

"That's right." Dai nodded.

"What did you mean when you said you were 'sent here' to protect this world from 'the stories that should not be a part of this world'?" Honoka asked.

"To be frank, the Grongi clan should not have existed in this world." Dai said. "They were supposed to be just a part of the story of Kuuga. Yet, according to Tsukasa, someone fused the countless stories of Kamen Rider with this world."

"Countless? Wait, are you saying…?" Honoka began but Dai knew what she was going to say.

"Yes. There are more threats just like the Grongi out there in this world, just waiting to pop out and cause chaos."

"That…That can't be!" Nagisa shouted. "You being from a different world, the Grongi's being real here when they're not supposed to, do you really expect us to believe that!?"

All this info which couldn't possibly be real, it made her head spin. This was too much. It was too much to take in. She was just a 14 year old junior high school girl; this was all too much for her. All of this just…couldn't be the truth.

"No, I don't expect you to believe what I'm saying." Dai said as he looked down sadly, refusing to look up at the girls. "I know what I'm saying right now is crazy and unbelievable. I don't have anything with me that can convince you two what I'm saying is true. So whether you choose to believe what I told you is up to you girls." With that, he turned around and started walking.

"Where are you going?" Honoka asked.

"I…think it's best if we didn't see each other for a while." Dai said before he took off into a run.

"Ah! Chotto Matte(Wait a minute)!" Nagisa exclaimed as she and Honoka gave chase.

They chased Dai down to the parking lot where they were forced to move out of the way or else get run over by Dai's bike as the Rider himself drove away from the two at high speeds.

"Dai-kun…" Nagisa muttered as she and Honoka watched the figure of Dai get smaller and smaller the more he drove away from them.

---

(Present)

'It's been a week since then. Everything that he said…it's just too unbelievable.' Nagisa thought . 'I mean, him being from a different world can't be real. But then again, how does he know so much about the Grongi. Ah, he said they were part of a TV show. I guess that explains how he knows so much. But wait, wouldn't that mean what he said is true after all!? Ah, I just don't know anymore!' Once again, Nagisa's mind was in a spiral.

"Mou…arienai(I can't believe this)." Nagisa mutters before glancing over to Honoka who was busy stirring up a bowl of what would be the frosting of their cake.

'I wonder what Honoka's thoughts are about what Dai-kun said?' Nagisa muttered as her mind wandered to the boy himself who for the past week has been avoiding her and Honoka. Just yesterday, when she had called out to the boy after school, he had ran away from her! She felt hurt that Dai was avoiding them. Weren't they all supposed to be friends?

So caught up in her thoughts, Nagisa didn't see her friends, Shiho and Rina, walk up to her.

"Hey, did you hear, did you hear?" Shiho spoke up, taking Nagisa out of her thoughts as she turned to them.

"Hear what?"

"Nagisa, have you heard of Pretty Cure?" Rina asked.

Nagisa froze. Did…did her friend just say what she think she's saying?

"Pr…Pretty Cure?"

Upon hearing the title they go by from Nagisa, Honoka looked up from what she was doing to see what was going on and why their name had been brought up in broad daylight.

"See, see! She doesn't know!" Shiho smiled at Rina as the latter explained.

"I heard from Kyoko that it was a pair of girls."

'We're a pair of girls.' Both Nagisa and Honoka thought but decided to keep listening.

"I heard they fight against bad guys or something." Shiho said.

"I-Is that so?" Nagisa said before glancing over Honoka who was trying to act like she didn't know anything.

"Hey now, just a second, where do you think you're looking?" Shiho spoke up, getting Nagisa to snap back to them.

"S-Sorry! And…?" Nagisa gestured for them to continue.

"That's it."

"Huh?" Nagisa let out a noise of disbelief while Honoka glanced over.

"I'm afraid that's all I know about it." Rina said.

"Oh?" Nagisa couldn't help but feel like her friends had led her on.

"But you know, I'd love to try and see them." Shiho said. "Don't you like, totally think so?"

"I…I guess…?" Nagisa said uncertainly as she glanced worriedly at Honoka who returned the look with one of her own.

---

(Meanwhile, with Dai)

A big, long sigh escapes the mouth of Ichi Dai as he lays his head down on his desk while his friends were looking at him weirdly.

"And that makes number a hundred and fifty-two…" Kimata counted, keeping track of how many times Dai's sighed the past week.

"Okay, that's it." Shougo said, getting fed up with Dai sighing as he bluntly said, "Dai, what's wrong? You've been sighing nonstop this past week."

"I don't want to talk about it." Dai said, turning his head the other way.

"Well, you're gonna have to soon. I've never seen you this depressed before." Shougo said.

"Did you get into some kind of fight with that Nagisa girl?" Kimata asked.

"How'd you know that?" Dai asked, turning to his blue haired friend.

"Dai, everybody saw you run away from her when she called out to you the other day." Kimata said.

"So it's about Misumi-san." Shougo said as Dai flinched and looked away.

"I think it's about both her and Honoka." Kimata said. "I've seen Dai here avoid them both for some reason."

Shougo nodded in thanks for the info before turning back to Dai who still refused to make eye contact.

"Care to explain?"

"…I don't want to talk about it." Dai muttered as he looked away.

"Dai, you know it's not good to keep things bottled up. We're your friends, you can tell us." Shougo assured the boy, Kimata nodding in agreement.

'Friends, huh…' In his mind, Dai's thoughts wondered to Nagisa and Honoka and he let out a sigh.

"A hundred and fifty-three…" Kimata counted.

Dai let out a little laugh at that before he reluctantly spoke. "Well…there's this secret I've kept from Nagisa-chan and Honoka-chan for about a year."

"You kept a secret from them? For a year?" Kimata asked and Dai nodded. "…Who are you and what have you done with Dai? He's supposed to be bad a lying."

"Hey! Just because I can't lie doesn't mean I can't keep a secret!"

"Really? You sure about that?"

"Does Honoka-chan know about your secret crush on her?"

"Touché."

"Anyway," Dai continued. "Some things happened a few days ago which led to me telling them the secret I've been hiding and now, well…I don't know if I can be their friends anymore."

"What are you talking about? Of course you can still be friends with them." Shougo said. "Just because you kept one little secret from them doesn't mean they hate you."

'My secret isn't as 'little' as you think.' Dai thought but decided not to voice it as he instead said, "It's not them I'm worried about, it's more about how they're going to react to my reveal. My mom said to never keep secrets from your friends yet I've kept one from them for so long."

"We still don't follow." Kimata said.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…I'm scared." Dai admitted.

"Scared? You?" Shougo pointed at Dai in disbelief.

"What's with that reaction? I'm scared of things too you know."

"Mind explaining what is it that you're so scared?" Shougo asked.

"Well…I'm scared of how things will be from now on." Dai said.

This was the real reason why Dai was avoiding the girls. With his reveal, there was no doubt that the relationship between him and them would change. What will change is what's scaring him. Would the girls think differently of him now? Would they be mad at him for not telling them all he knew? In hindsight, all of this may seem childish to some, but to Dai, it was not. When it all came down to it, the sole factor of what was worrying Dai was a certain aspect that came with forming bonds with one another.

Trust. One must have trust in the other if they are to hold a relationship of any kind, whether it be one of friendship or love, it did not matter for trust was a key factor in holding bonds together. And that was what is worrying Dai.

After everything he's told them, would the trust between him and the girls ever been the same again?

A ringing from his pocket snapped Dai out of his thoughts. Finding the source to be in his pocket, Dai took out his phone and saw who had texted him. It was Ryō.

Message: Come to the nearby construction sight downtown. A body was just discovered. We believe it's an Unidentified Lifeform.

After reading the message did Dai get up. "I gotta go"

"Eh? But class is gonna start soon." Kimata said.

"It's important." Was all Dai said before he ran out of the class.

"And there he goes again." Kimata commented, placing a hand under his chin. "Makes you wonder what is it that forces him to ditch class like that?"

"Hmm…" Shougo just hummed while he stares at the door Dai had ran out of.

---

(Back with Nagisa and Honoka)

"Doshiyo(What should we do)?" Nagisa asked, talking with Honoka.

"You say that, but…"

"I wonder if someday we'll be discovered as pretty Cure?" Nagisa asked as she licked some frosting off her finger.

"That day might come…" Honoka said as the police pretty much already knew about them. Surprisingly, that didn't bother her or Nagisa at all though it helps that they were keeping it secret.

"If that happens, what should we do?" Nagisa asked. They weren't like who Dai who was fine with fighting out in the open. Then again, he does have a mask on to hide his face from people. Thinking about it now, it was kind of unfair.

'For powers that are supposedly not supposed to be real, they're surprisingly convenient.' Nagisa thought. Why didn't their powers come with a mask? The least it could do was maybe change the color of their hairs and eyes so people wouldn't recognize them.

"Even if you say that…we should just be careful form now on." Honoka said as she applied frosting to their cake.

"Yeah, I guess…" Nagisa said as she helped her friend with the cake.

"No, Cure Black like strawberries, no vanilla!"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

At the mention of Nagisa's alter ego name did she and Honoka turn to two girls they know, Natsuko and Kyoko.

"Natsuko…what did you just say?" Nagisa asked, hoping that what she just heard had been her imagination.

Natsuko, a girl with dark brown hair with two clips, allowing her hair to frame her face, said, "Say what?"

"You said something about Black." Nagisa pressed for info.

"Oh, you're talking about Pretty Cure?"

"You don't know?" Kyoko, a girl taller than Natsuko and had black hair tied into twin tails, asked.

"Everybody knows!" They both said.

Nagisa and Honoka tried their best to not let their expressions turn to that of horror as the latter asked, "W-Why…?"

"Even if you ask why…" Natsuko began before she and Kyoko both said, "Right?"

"What?" Nagisa said. "Why do you know? What is Pretty Cure?"

"Pretty Cure is a pair of girls called Black and White who are on the side of justice." Kyoko explained.

"And?" Honoka asked.

"And what?" Natsuko asked.

"Anything else?" Nagisa asked. "Is it something you know a lot about?"

"For example, what kind of things do you know?" Honoka asked.

Both Natsuko and Kyoko looked at both girls before Natsuko set down the bowl in her arm before giving the two a serious look.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Natsuko asked and Honoka nodded.

"Will you promise?" Kyoko asked Nagisa and the girl nodded.

Seeing that both girls promised, Natsuko spoke first.

"I heard that Black is cool and cute, but White is missing something."

"Eh?" Honoka wasn't expecting that as Nagisa held back a laugh.

"Oh really?" Kyoko said. "I heard that White is cool, but Black is selfish."

"Eh!?" Both Nagisa and Natsuko said at the same time while Honoka, whose face was calm and smiling on the outside, was giggling on the inside. Natsuko then noticed how Nagisa had reacted and the girl quickly asked for more info to divert attention.

"And?"

"Black is pushy and a smooth talker, frankly speaking she's just full of herself." Kyoko said.

'Huh?' were Nagisa's thoughts.

"It didn't seem that way to me." Natsuko said. "Especially the looks on their faces before the transformation."

"EH!?" Both Nagisa and Honoka exclaimed in both shock and horror.

"You saw their faces before the transformation!?" Nagisa asked and the girls nodded yes.

"When?" Honoka asked.

"We saw them again yesterday." Natsuko said and Kyoko nodded in agreement.

"Yesterday?" Nagisa repeated while trying to think if she and Honoka had fought yesterday but nothing came to mind. She's pretty sure nothing happened yesterday but just to make sure, she asked, "Where?"

"Where?"

"It's a secret. Right?"

"Please tell me!" Nagisa pleaded. "Where did you see me-um, where did you see Pretty Cure?"

This was a crisis. Looking through her memory, Nagisa was sure that the last time she and Honoka had fought was during the Presentation and that was a week ago. She was sure that there was no one when she and Honoka had begun fighting. So how-?

"Oi, you girls, what do you think you're doing?" Suddenly, the teacher in charge of today's class spoke up, having enough of the girls' talking as she pointed at their cake which was left unfinished. "You haven't made any progress at all. If you have time to move your mouths then you have time to move your hands!"

"Hai~!" All four girls said as Honoka looked down while Nagisa simply pouted as her thoughts could summed into one word.

'Arienai(I can't believe this)…'

---

(With Dai)

It had taken a while but Dai finally made it to the place Ryō had called him to as police cars are seen surrounding a construction site as men both officers and detectives were talking amongst one another while checking the area.

Coming to a stop and parking his Trychaser, Dai took off his helmet and approached the 'Keep Out' tapes that blocked normal citizens from entering.

"Dai! Over here!" Hearing his name, Dai turned and saw Ryō with Rai and Hiroshi.

The men on lookout let Dai past as the boy walked over to the three adults who were all standing over a dead body that was ready to be shipped and examined.

"What happened?" Dai asked.

Rai was the one to explain as he took out his notebook and read, "At 11:51 PM, construction workers were digging through the ground when one of them had discovered this man right here."

Said man appeared to be in his mid-30s. Besides his obvious business suit that told Dai that the man was an office worker, the body was covered head to toe in dirt. Dai then looked up and around and saw a somewhat deep hole in the ground where some other officers were investigating.

"At first we think someone had killed him and buried him here to hide him but lack of any life threatening wounds suggest otherwise." Rai said.

"He was buried alive." Dai said and Rai nodded.

"Good eye." The man commented.

"What makes you think that this was done by a Grongi?" Dai asked.

"Well, besides a lack of anything to bind the man to keep him from struggling, we discovered that the hole the man was found in was connected to an underground path which led to a nearby park from here." Hiroshi said. "We only discovered the path by digging around the hole he was in, through said hole was big enough for a grown man to crawl and even then the hole was cramped. We had to dig and expand it to get to the other side."

"We have other officers and detectives investigating the park right now." Ryō said before asking, "Dai, how do you think this man was buried alive?"

"Hmm…" Dai hummed processing what the three adults have told him before coming to a conclusion. "I don't think he was buried alive. If a Grongi really did this, then I think the reason for the underground path in the hole is that he was dragged underground and left for dead."

"I see. That is a possibility, though knowing you you're probably right." Ryō said, adjusting his glasses.

"Since you're the expert on Unidentified Lifeforms, can you tell us what we're up against this time?" Hiroshi asked.

"Hmm, I can't say for sure," Dai began as something like this was never seen in the show. "But I do have an idea."

If a murder was done by a Grongi and Dai's never seen it before, then that could only mean one thing.

The culprit was a Grongi who was never shown on TV.

'Just my luck.' Dai thought as he mentally sighed before suddenly, his stomach growled.

"Didn't have lunch yet?" Ryō asked and Dai simply nodded, laughing awkwardly while scratching his head.

"Why don't you take him out for lunch? We'll let you know if anything comes up." Rai said.

"Okay." Ryō said before he and Dai left to get some food.

---

(With the girls)

School had finally ended not too long ago and currently, Nagisa and Honoka had taken a trip down to Akane's Tako Café for some takoyaki, looking after the place for Akane who was on an errand trip. Fed with free food, the girls ate as they thought about what Natsuko and Kyoko had told them.

"You don't need to be so upset." Honoka said as her friend was currently stuffing takoyaki into her mouth while she ate at a normal, slow pace.

"Not cute, selfish, ugh! It just makes me angry!" Nagisa ranted as she chewed.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it-mepo?" Mepple said, once again trying to get on his partner's nerves only to scream in fright when Nagisa had stabbed her toothpick a bit too close for his comfort.

"What was that?" Nagisa said as she had stabbed her toothpick into another tako ball while glaring down at the male fairy.

"But those two seemed to know Pretty Cure pretty well-mipo." Mipple said, popping up to talk.

"Indeed they do-mepo." Mepple said, having g calm down. "Cure Black is selfish, it's the truth-mepo."

"Are you trying to make me angry?" Nagisa glare down at Mepple as she raised her toothpick and bit down on the takoyaki.

"I-I'm just kidding-mepo!" Mepple said, scared of the look Nagisa was giving him as he laughed awkwardly. "You're actually cute, Nagisa! And I'm hungry-mepo."

"Geez, if anyone's the smooth talker here, it's you." Nagisa said as she went through her carrier and pulled out the card that would feed Mepple.

With one slash, a bubble was raised as the cook served for Mepple a nice, cooked omelet.

"Today's menu is our special omelet. Please, enjoy."

"Yay! I was just thinking about it-mepo!"

"How about you, Mipple? Hungry?" Honoka asked her partner fairy.

"I'm fine-mipo." Mipple declined. "Eating too much isn't good for your health-mipo."

"You hear that, Mepple? You should take Mipple's advice." Nagisa said.

"I don't want to hear that from you-mepo!" Mepple shouted back. "It's worse for your health to not eat when you want to-mepo."

"But you know, Honoka, those two said they saw Pretty Cure yesterday." Nagisa said, turning to her friend. "Did we ever transform yesterday?"

"I don't think so." Honoka said as she thought back to yesterday. All she could remember was Dai trying to avoid her and Nagisa.

Speaking of the boy…

"Ah!"

"Huh?" Both girls turned to the sound of as voice and was met with Dai who was with Ryō.

"Dai-kun/Ichi-kun!" Both girls exclaimed in surprise.

"Y-Yo…" Dai nervously said as he looked ready to run if it wasn't for Ryō.

"Good to see you two again." Ryō said, he and Dai walking over to them before he glanced down and saw the two fairies. "Or should I say four?"

"It's good to see you too, Ichijo-kun." Nagisa said, glancing at Dai for a second before turning back to the adult. "What are you doing here?"

"We both came here for a quick snack." Ryō said before looking around. "Is Akane-san not here?"

"She went into the store to get some groceries." Honoka said.

"Sorry you guys!" Suddenly, from behind the group was the woman herself, Akane, carrying a box of supplies and ingredients. Quickly, both the girls hid Mepple and Mipple away before Akane reached them.

"Thanks for looking after the store for me! You really helped me out!" Akane said before seeing Dai and Ryō. "Oh! Dai and Ichijo-san!"

"Hey, Akane-san." Dai greeted.

"You two here for some food?" Akane asked and they both nodded. "Okay then, just let me set this down. Oh yeah, do you girls want another order?"

"Is it okay?" Honoka asked and Akane nodded.

"Lucky!" Nagisa cheered as Akane soon got to work and in a matter of minutes, the group each had their own takoyaki to eat.

"So, what brings you two here?" Akane asked both Dai and Ryō while she cooked more food, knowing that Ryō could eat.

"We just came here to grab a quick bite to eat." Ryō explained as he was the first to finish his serving and asked for more.

'Hayai(So fast)…' Both girls thought, surprised at the man's eating speed.

"After this we'll be returning to an investigation we were in the middle of." Ryō said once he got his second servings.

"An investigation?" Honoka asked.

"Another Gro-er, Unidentified Lifeform appeared." Dai said, careful not to say Grongi in front of Akane.

Immediately after Dai said that did the mood of the group turn dark.

"Was someone killed?" Akane asked as it was a common question when concerning the Grongi. The fact that the questions was so common nowadays showed just how much of an impact the clan of monsters had made upon the city and possibly all over Japan.

"Yes." Was all Ryō said, not going into any details as it would no doubt ruin everyone's hunger. Just thinking about it was already ruining his yet he kept eating for there was no doubt in his mind that there was going to be another fight later.

Nagisa and Honoka glanced worriedly at Dai who had made no attempt to make eye contact with them. It hurt to see the boy was still trying to avoid them. Weren't they friends?

"C-Can we talk about something else?" Nagisa asked. "I'm sure none of us what to talk about those monsters."

"Yeah, you're right." Akane said as she thought of a subject to talk about. "How about we talk about this pair of girls I heard about. Lately they've been getting popular."

"Really? Who are these girls?" Dai asked out of simply curiosity.

"They call themselves Pretty Cure." At that did the eyes of the girls go wide while Dai and Ryō almost choked on the takoyaki they were eating, quickly saving themselves with a glass of water.

"W-What did you just say?" Dai asked, looking at Akane in surprise while also glancing at the girls.

"That Black and White pair who transform. You never heard of them?" Akane asked.

"We have…" Honoka said.

"But why do you know that?" Nagisa asked.

"I saw them." Akane said and the girls gasped in shock. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"You saw?"

"Yup."

"When?"

"Where?"

"In that playgrounds over there. I think I saw them yesterday." Akane said, getting another cry of surprise from the girls. "In front of the children they said: 'Go back to the darkness from which you came!' Or something like that."

"Don't you mean 'Return?'" Nagisa muttered as she was the one who always said that part.

"Did you two transform yesterday?" Ryō whispered to the girls and they shook their heads.

"It was some kind of comedy performance." Akane added.

"Arienai(I can't believe this)!" Nagisa exclaimed.

'What does she mean, I wonder?' Honoka thought as her and Nagisa's fight with the Dark Zone was anything but a comedy act…although there were those one times…

"What's with that serious look?" Akane asked, seeing the looks on everyone's faces.

"Akane-san, are you sure you saw a pair of girls called Pretty Cure yesterday at the park?" Ryō asked.

"Yeah, I did." Akane said. "If you're all so interested, why don't you all go and see it? I think they'll be doing it again today." She then quoted once again: "Go back to the darkness from which you caaaaame~! Like that."

"…Zettai arienai(I really can't believe this)." Nagisa said.

"This is a whole new level of weirdness." Dai commented to Ryō who nodded in agreement.

After eating their takoyaki, the girls decided to investigate this so-called comedy performance as Dai and Ryō, the former being reluctant for obvious reasons, tagged along in order to lend a hand at this mystery.

"From what Akane-san said, it's obvious that this Pretty Cure everyone seems to know are fakes." Ryō said as he knew that the girls' fight with the Dark Zone was supposed to kept a secret from society.

"So they're impostors-mepo?" Mepple asked, not bothering to hide from the adult as he already knew about him and Mipple. Though it still felt weird to be out in the open with a person they barely even knew.

"It's possible." Dai said.

"But if they really do exist, then they're in danger." Honoka said, a clear look of worry on her face.

"I think so too-mipo." Mipple said. "It would be dangerous if the Dark Zone targeted them-mipo."

"But they don't know about all of that and are getting carried away." Nagisa said before turning to Dai. "Hey, Dai-kun, has there ever been anyone who's tried to impersonate you? I mean, even today, you're all over the news."

"The only ones who would try and pretend to be me would be kids." Dai said. "Everyone knows just how serious my fight with the Grongi is. The last thing they want is to draw their attention to them."

That statement alone showed just how much different the fights between them were. While the Dark Zone had its moments of being flashy, they still remained hidden from society. But on the other hand, all the murders caused by the Grongi clan stirred worry and unrest as the ancient clan was not afraid to announce themselves to the whole world and show everyone the type of carnage they can all do.

The girls of course already knew this yet they can't help but be reminded every time the difference between them and Dai. But add in what Dai had told them about the Grongi and his powers, they had to wonder…

'What would today be like if the Grongi and Kuuga didn't exist in this world?'

Of course, thinking about these thoughts was like saying that they believed what Dai had told them but in truth, they still had their doubts. Who wouldn't when a friend of yours says that they're actually another world and that his powers and enemies were supposed to be fake?

It was hard to believe. No, in fact, it was impossible to believe! Were all the deaths that have occurred in this city not supposed to have happen if the Grongi simply did not exist in the first place? If so, then it was like denying reality! To them, the Grongi clan does exist! To them, all the murders that have happened happened! To them, that was the reality they were living in! Should such a reality have never occurred if the Grongi and Kuuga never came to this world? Would everyone's lives be different if the story of Kuuga have never fused with this world? Would their lives be different if they've never met Dai?

'Ugh, I can feel my brain hurting just thinking about it…' Nagisa thought as she instead focused back on the matter at hand, the Pretty Cure impostors.

"I wonder who they are?" Nagisa thought out loud.

"Hmm…" Honoka hummed in thought when Dai suddenly tapped her shoulder. "What is it?"

Dai simply pointed and the girls and Ryō all turned to see a sight that never expected to see.

"Natsuko!? Kyoko!?" Nagisa shouted in surprise.

Indeed, it was Natsuko and Kyoko though dressed very much like Cure Black and White albeit with some differences like the hearts being grey and the costumes being a bit paler than the originals in color.

"What the heck…?" Ryō commented, not sure if what he was seeing was real.

"What are you two doing?" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Um, we have a good excuse, don't we Kyoko?" Natsuko asked her friend next to her.

"Yeah, right." Kyoko nodded as the two girls could only laugh awkwardly at being found like this.

It was found that they were all heading to the park so the group all went there and sat down at a table so that Natsuko and Kyoko could explains themselves. Of course that was after the girls did a little performance for a group of kids.

"So 'Black is cute' was about you?" Nagisa asked, talking to Natsuko who was dressed like Cure Black.

"Hehehe, you got me." Natsuko laughed.

"Then White is…" Honoka pointed to Kyoko who was dressed like Cure White.

"Hehe, does it suit me?" Kyoko asked.

"I guess?" Dai said, not really knowing what to say.

"Pretty Cure, bye bye!" From a short distance away from the group, the group of kids waved goodbye to Natsuko and Kyoko who waved back.

"See you next time!" The girls waved goodbye before Natsuko turned to Kyoko. "Alright, let's go."

"Yeah."

"Just a second!" Nagisa stopped the two from leaving.

"You two haven't explained yet why you're dressed like that and why you did that little act for those kids." Ryō said.

"Um, who are you?" Kyoko asked as she and Natsuko have not met the man before.

"This is Ichijo-san, a friend of mine." Dai explained quickly before asking, "So, mind telling us why you two are dressed like that?"

"Well, it started back a week ago." Natsuko began. "Both Kyoko and I had went to see the Science Clubs presentation."

"You were at the Presentation?" Honoka asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Kyoko said before scratching her cheek. "But we kind of fell asleep halfway."

Honoka felt annoyed at that but she hid it well as the girls continued their story.

"We don't know how long we were out but when we woke up, the place was in a panic and everyone had evacuated." Natsuko said. "A part of the ceiling fell on us but we were saved by the seats of the room."

"We were then about to head towards the exits when there was this big flash of light and then we saw these two girls calling themselves Pretty Cure fighting a monster." Kyoko said.

'They were there!?' Nagisa thought in surprise.

'I thought everyone had already evacuated the room.' Honoka thought.

"We weren't able to see their faces," Both Nagisa and Honoka breathed out a sigh of relief. "But the sight of the two really amazed us."

"The next day, we came to this park to just relax, enjoying a few snacks and talking about what we saw that day when a few kids walked up to us and asked what Pretty Cure was." Kyoko explained.

"I told them what Pretty Cure was though I kind of made it sound like they were a pair that did performances." Natsuko said as she rubbed the back of her head. "And I kind of said that we were Pretty Cure and that we would perform for them."

"So we did and we were only gonna do it once." Kyoko said. "But then the next thing we knew, we kept doing this for the fun of it and the smiles of the kids."

"So that's how it is." Honoka said.

"Wanting to make kids smile, I can relate." Dai said.

"So that's why you're dressed like that." Nagisa said, pointing at the girls' costume.

"They're pretty well done, aren't they" Natsuko said as she and Kyoko showed off their costume. "We made these together."

"We stayed up all night." Kyoko added in.

"We understand now," Honoka began. "But I think it would be best if you two stopped."

"Huh? Why?" Natsuko asked.

"Why, you ask…" Nagisa said, not sure how to explain it to the two without giving away her and Honoka's secret.

"We're just thinking of you two." Honoka said as it was the only thing she could say.

"Why do we have to stop? That's just mean." Natsuko asked as she and Kyoko got up.

"It has nothing to do with you." Kyoko said. "Let's go, Natsuko."

Natsuko nodded before the two girls ran off.

"Ah! Chotto(Wait)!" Nagisa cried out but the two were already gone, making her a bit angry as she placed her hand under her chin. "Mou, should we just leave them alone?"

"Don't say that." Honoka said, angry that her friend would even say that. "If they're mistaken as us then the Dark Zone will attack them."

"I know that already." Nagisa said as she sighed before getting up. "Guess it can't be helped. Let's go after them and try to convince them one more time."

The group gets up to go after the girls when suddenly, Ryō's phone rings from his pocket. Taking it out, he sees the caller is Rai and answers.

"Ichijo here."

- Ryō, another victim has just popped up. It seems No. 27 has been killing more people than we first thought as another report came in saying some officers found two more bodies and the number keeps rising. The bastard has been at this for a while now.-

"How many victims are there?" Ryō asked, getting Dai and the girls' attention.

-Currently, the number of victims is 13 which is pretty surprising. Usually the number is higher when concerning these guys. Meet me near the city station, we'll talk more there.-

"Understood." Ryō said before ending the call and then turned to Dai. "More victims of No. 27 have appeared. We're meeting up with Rai near the city station."

Dai nodded as the two were about to leave when Nagisa spoke.

"Wait! We'll come too!"

"Excuse me?" Ryō said, he and Dai looking at Nagisa in surprise.

"We want to help too!" Honoka said, joining Nagisa.

"No, you can't." Dai said, his face turning stern.

"Why not? We can fight too, you know!" Nagisa said Zakennas weren't the only things she and Honoka had fought as they had fought some Grongies too. Plus, with the training Dai's been giving them, they can hold their own.

"Because this isn't your fight!" Dai shouted, surprising the girls at his outburst as Dai blinked in surprise at himself before a look of shame appeared on his face and he turned away from them. "I…can't let you two get any more involved than you already have. The fight against the Grongi is mine…and mine alone."

After saying that did Dai run off.

"Dai-kun, wait!" Nagisa called out to the boy but he was already gone.

"…Did something happen between you three? I've never seen him act like this." Ryō asked.

"It's…complicated." Was all Honoka could say.

"Well, I won't pry." Ryō said as he adjusted his glasses. "For now, you two need to go after those girls before they get into trouble. We all have our own fights to deal with and right now, I need to get to mine. Good luck, you two." And with that, the man ran after Dai.

Nagisa wanted to shout out for the man to stop but no words came out as the adult was already gone.

"Come on, Nagisa. We have to go after Natsuko and Kyoko." Honoka said.

"Right…" Nagisa said as she and Honoka ran off in the opposite direction from the boys.

'Our own fights…' Both girls thought as the words for some reason upsetted them.

---

(With Dai)

It had token some time but Ryō managed to catch up with Dai before going back to his car and drove to where Rai wanted to meet them. Inside the car, everything was quiet as Ryō focused on driving while Dai simply looked out the window. He didn't show it but the silence was making Ryō uncomfortable as Dai always had something to talk about, speaking with a smile. Right now, the boy was unusually quiet and his usual smile was not on.

Finally, Ryō decided to broke the silence and spoke. "What was all that?"

"…I don't want to talk about it."

"I've never seen you act like that to the girls before." Ryō said. "What happened?"

"I…I don't know if those girls trust me anymore." Dai said, leaning down in his seat.

"Why wouldn't they trust you? You're their friend, right?"

"Well, yeah, but when you get down to it, we've only known each other for about a year." Dai said. "I know a lot about the girls during said year but when I think about it, they really don't know about me all that well. If that wasn't enough, I also kept a secret from them until last week where I told them."

"What is this secret?" Ryō asked.

"Sorry, it's a secret." Dai said, laughing a little at what he said.

"I still don't see what the problem is." Ryō said.

"It's about trust." Dai said. "The things I've said to them sound absurd and I'll understand if they don't believe me, but a small part of me wants them to believe me. I want them to know that…that I'm not lying to them. I don't like telling lies, they makes me feel…all wrong."

"Hmm…" Ryō hummed as he thought about what Dai had told him. "So, to sum it all up, you're worried that the girls won't believe you and will treat you differently because of it. That's…surprisingly childish of you."

"Well, I am still a kid." Dai said.

"…Yeah, you're right." Ryō said as he realized that somewhere along the line, Dai was still only 15. Even he had worries like these.

After a while, the two finally made it to their destination where Rai was waiting for them with Dai's Trychaser.

"Took you two long enough." Rai said.

"Sorry, and thanks for looking after my bike." Dai said.

"Don't mention it. Now, to the matter at hand." Rai said, getting to the point.

"Right." Ryō nodded. "What can you tell us?"

"Well, from what we've been able to find, it seems No. 27 has been at this for a while, about a week if the conditions of the bodies we've found say anything." Rai said.

"How many bodies did you find?" Ryō asked.

"Enough to make you angry." Was all Rai said as Ryō and Dai got the message. "And that's not even the weird part. Take a look at this."

Rai then went into his car and pulled out a map with markings and lines on it.

"These spots are where we found the bodies." Rai said, pointing at the markings dotting the map before moving onto the lines. "These lines are the pathways we dug up and almost all of them are connected. We think the guy is planning something."

"Hmm…" Dai hummed in thought as he examined the map, his mind working at the speed of sound. Indeed the paths crated by the Grongi connected here and there but there was something else. Something that would tell Dai what the Grongi was planning. After minutes of thinking, he saw just what the Grongi was doing.

"He's trying to make a sinkhole."

"What?" Both adults turned to the young boy.

"Look here. The way these paths are shaped, they look like cracks in the ground." Dai said,, pointing down at the map before asking for a pen which Ryō provided him. With the writing tool in hand, Dai began to connected all the marks on the map.

"If we connect all the spots No. 27 has made so far, we get…" Dai then finished connecting all the marks and the results was what appeared to be an unfinished circle.

"My god." Rai said as he looked down at the map in surprise and horror. "These spots…That bastard is trying to sink most of Shinjuku!"

"Not only that but he's almost done too." Ryō said the unfinished circle looked close to being finished. "But it doesn't make any sense. The pathways we found were only big enough to leave a grown man stuck. We only found out the paths were connected by digging through them."

"That's exactly what No. 27 wants." Dai said. "By expanding the paths he's left behind, he's making you weaken the earth underground enough for it to collapse, taking you all with it. If that happens, we'll lose a lot of man power."

"He's not only trying to take away so many lives, he's also trying to weaken us!" Rai said, slamming a fist down in anger before gathering up the map. "I'll contact all men to stop digging and spread out to look for No. 27. Our only chance of finding him is looking around the areas where he might try to dig."

"Right!" Ryō nodded as the three separated. While Rai spoke through the radio in his car, Ryō and Dai were about to go their spate ways to increase the chance of finding the Grongi.

"Dai." Before said boy could leave, Ryō spoke up, making the Rider turn to him. "While I may not have known you for that long, I know for sure that those girls think of you as their friend. While you're unsure of their trust in you, you need to know if you can give your trust to them. Remember Dai, you're not alone in this fight."

"Ichijo-san…" Dai looked at the man in surprise before looking down in thought.

"Think about it later. Right now, we gotta hurry up and find No. 27. Or else many lives will be lost."

Dai nodded before putting on his helmet and driving away in search of the Grongi.

---

(With the girls)

Thanks to all the training Nagisa and Honoka have done with Dai, they were able to barely able to catch up to Natsuko and Kyoko. But when they took a turn around a construction site, the Pretty Cure pretenders were nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Where did they go?" Honoka wondered out loud, sure that the girls had run this way.

"Natsuko and Kyoko can sure run fast." Nagisa commented. The fact that they were able to catch up showed that they were faster yet they lost sight of them.

The two girls looked around for any sign of the girls but it was like they had just vanished.

"Hey, Nagisa."

"Hm? What is it?" Nagisa looked down to Mipple who's head popped out from her pocket.

"Why don't you believe what Dai told you-mepo? You know, about him being from a whole other world and stuff-mepo." Mepple said.

"Huh? You actually believe what he said?" Nagisa looked down at the fairy in a bit of surprise.

"Well, Mepple and I are from another world-mipo." Mipple said, joining in on the conversation as her head popped out from Honoka's pocket. "Plus, his powers are a complete mystery. Almost mystical in a sense-mipo."

"Mystical?" Honoka looked down at her fairy partner in confusion.

"That's just the kind of feeling I get when I see him-mipo." Mipple said.

"A very dark power lies within him, you two have seen it yourself-mepo." Mepple said, talking about that one time during the aquarium. "Yet, despite that, he always acts kind to everyone-mepo. I…I believe in Dai-mepo."

"What the heck? Since when did you start liking Dai-kun?" Nagisa asked. "I thought you didn't trust him because of those dark powers of his."

"Yeah, well…" Mepple began as he thought back to one time many weeks back.

---

(Flashback)

"Ugh…" Nagisa groaned before slamming her head on the table littered with notes.

"Come on, Nagisa-chan, it's only been 10 minutes. You can't be tired yet." Dai said, a pencil in hand with a textbook and some notes in front of him.

"But it's just so hard!" Nagisa complained.

"Don't be like that. Here, let me show you." Dai said as he began helping Nagisa study for an upcoming test in a week.

"If you carrying that there…you'll get your answer."

"I think I get it." Nagisa said as she began moving her pencil. "So if I do this…"

"That's correct."

"Alright!" Nagisa cheered.

"Every day, you need help from Dai." From Nagisa's desk, Mepple decided to speak up, no doubt trying to get on Nagisa's nerves again which he was. "If you keep this up, you'll be pretty unreliable in the future."

"What was that!?" Nagisa growled as she glared at the fairy.

"Now, now. No fighting you two." Dai said, trying to calm the girl down.

But Nagisa would not be calm. He wanted to get back at the fairy and tried to think of something she could do to make Mepple regret teasing her. One look towards Dai and an idea popped up in Nagisa's head as she grinned evilly.

"Hey, I'm gonna get us some snacks. Look after Mepple for me, would you?" Nagisa said as she got up.

"What-mepo!?" Mepple looked at Nagisa in disbelief.

"Sure, I can do that." Dai said as Nagisa left the room but not before giving an evil grin towards Mepple.

'That girl!' Mepple mentally cried out in anger before he realized that he was now all alone with Dai, the man who he did not trust all that much, no matter how much talking Nagisa gave to him. It was hard to trust someone with the amount of darkness that spewed from him. And it certainly didn't help that forces of darkness had attacked his home and forced him to flee.

So with those thoughts in mind, Mepple decided to keep quiet and to not make eye contact with the Rider, even if the boy kept staring at him. Doing his best to not look nervous, Mepple stayed completely silent and avoided eye contact as silence filled the room…which lasted for about 10 seconds when growling could be heard from him. Mepple cursed his stomach for its back timing.

"You hungry?" Dai asked and Mepple decided not to speak like he planned only for more growling to be heard from him.

"Hold on, I'll get you something." Dai said as he got up and went over to Nagisa's desk where Mepple's carrier was at with a few cards scattered. Looking through the cards, he found the one he was looking for and approached Mepple.

Mepple moved away from Dai when he got too close when he was grabbed by the boy, making him cry out in surprise.

"Now, now, don't be like that. Here." Dai said as he slashed the card across Mepple and soon, a bubble appeared showing Mepple and the Chef.

"Good evening, Mepple-sama." The chef greeted in a polite and proper matter as always. "What would you like today?"

"Mmm…" Normally, Mepple would answer right away but with Dai's staring, he couldn't think.

"Hey," Suddenly, Dai spoke up. "Is it okay if I help?"

"Pardon?" The chef turned to Dai in confusion.

"I have a suggestion." Dai said.

The next thing Mepple knew, Dai was giving the chef a list of ingredients to cook. He watched as the chef followed Dai's instruction in making some sort of original sauce. In a matter of 10 minutes, the chef laid out a plate where a delicious looking steak covered in a bit of sauce and coated in butter laid before him. He could feel his mouth watering like a waterfall.

"Order up. Please, enjoy." Dai said, smiling like always.

Mepple looked uncertain to eat despite the steak before him looking and smelling absolutely delicious. So before he could come to a decision, Mepple finally decided to speak.

"Why did you do this-mepo?" Mepple asked. "I could have easily asked the chef to make me a steak if I wanted one-mepo."

"Well, yeah, but I just wanted to show you that I'm not a bad person." Dai said. "Every time we talk, you always avoid me so I thought you didn't trust me. So I thought by doing this, I can get you to trust me."

"So you're bribing me with food-mepo."

"Pretty much." Dai admitted. "But really, I want us to be friends. I've never really talked to someone like you which makes you interesting."

"I'm…interesting-mepo?" Mepple asked and Dai nodded.

Mepple blinked in surprise. No one has ever said he was interesting. Looking back down to his plate, he grabbed his fork and knife and slowly cut a piece for himself. Lifting up the piece of meat on his fork, Mepple looked awkwardly at Dai who continued to smile before he threw caution to the wind and ate the meat.

The results…

"U-U-UMAI(DELICIOUS)!" Mepple cried out in joy before he started to devour the steak in front of him.

"Hehe, glad you like it!" Dai said with a big smile.

Mepple paused in his eating for a moment, turning to Dai who continued to smile before giving the fairy a thumbs up. Mepple couldn't help but smile back and return the thumbs up with one of his own.

"You know what-mepo? You're not that bad, Dai."

"Glad to hear that."

(Flashback End)

---

"After that, I've starting to think of Dai as a good guy-mepo." Mepple said, finishing his story. "Even though I barely know him, I know he's a good person. And you've known him longer than I do so you should know more about him-mepo."

"Mepple…" Nagisa looked down at the fairy in surprise before sighing. "Of course it was food that changed your opinion."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean-mepo!?"

"What about you, Mipple?" Honoka asked, looking down at the fairy. "Do you think Ichi-kun is a good person?"

"While I haven't had a good talk with Dai, I can tell from his actions alone that he's a good person-mipo." Mipple said. "Though I'm still kind of scared of him-mipo."

"I see." Honoka said as he looked up and saw something from the corner of her eye and soon gasped at what she saw.

"Nagisa! Look, up there!" Honoka pointed up to half destroyed building that was obviously scheduled to be demolished. Up on the roof were both girls, just standing there a bit too close to the edge.

"What are those two doing over there!?" Nagisa said.

"I have a bad feeling about this-mepo."

"Me too-mipo."

"In any case, let's go and get them!" Honoka said as the two girls ran into the conduction site.

Running through the rubble of the site, the girls soon found a way in and ran up a flight of stairs as it was the only way to make it to the roof the half-destroyed building. Finally, they made it to the top and burst through the door to find both girls still standing at the same spot they were seen.

"Natsuko, Kyoko!" Nagisa cried out, said girls slowly turning to them, as Nagisa and Honoka ran up to them.

"What are you two doing up here?" Honoka asked.

"It's dangerous here so let's go downstairs." Nagisa said as she was about to drag the girls away from the edge when suddenly, both Natsuko and Kyoko moved behind the girls and restrained them. "W-What the!?"

"What are you doing!?" Honoka said when suddenly evil, if not cliché, laughing was heard and she and Nagisa turned to see Poisony, standing on top of another part of the building right across from them. Immediately at the sight of the Dark Zone General did Honoka's expression turn to one of anger. "You!"

"Hello, girls. Seems to me you're both a bit held up." Poisony said as she snapped her fingers and then, the sky went dark before from the darkness came forth a Zakenna that went and fused with a wrecking ball.

"ZAKENNA!"

Roaring, the Zakenna jumped and slammed into the building the girls were on, throwing them off balance as they fall down with Natsuko and Kyoko releasing them.

"Ugh, that was too close." Nagisa groaned as she got up before seeing Natsuko next to her, not moving a single muscle. "Natsuko!" She went over to the girl and tried to shake her awake but the girl did not move as her eyes were devoid of emotion. "Hey, come on! Snap out of it!"

"What happened? Kyoko, wake up!" Honoka, meanwhile, was going through the same thing as Nagisa, trying to get a response from Kyoko only to up empty handed.

"They're probably both being controlled-mipo." Mipple informed Honoka while Mepple did the same and informed Nagisa. "Hurry and transform-mipo!"

Getting up, both girls had their Queen Cards in hand before quickly slashing the card.

"Dual Aurora Wave!"

As always, blinding light surrounding the girls, blinding anyone nearby as within the light, the girls underwent the transformation process before appearing from the light like shooting stars as they once again announced themselves out of habit.

"Hikari no shisha, Cure Black!"

"Hikari no shisha, Cure White!"

"Futari wa PreCure!"

"Yami no chikara no shimobetachi yo…"

"…Tottoto ouchi ni kaerinasai!"

"Hmph!" Poisony scoffed at the girls, confidant that she would win. "Your flashy display ends here. A Pretty Cure against pretty Cure fights seems pretty interesting. Go, my Pretty Cure."

With a snap of her fingers, both Natsuko and Kyoko rose up to their feet and charged at the two.

"What do we do?" Honoka asked as the girls approached them.

"I don't want to hurt them but in a situation like this, we have to restrain them." Nagisa said as she planned to rough up the girls just a little. She and Honoka had trained to fight against the likes of the Dark Zone and possibly the Grongi. Their opponents were just two school girls and why she didn't want to sound arrogant, she was confident that she and Honoka could take care of them.

Too bad she forgot about the Zakenna Poisony had summoned.

"ZAKENNA!"

"Whoa!" Both girls cried out in surprise when the wrecking ball Zakenna crashed a bit too close to them from behind, throwing them forward. They both managed to land on their feet before Natsuko and Kyoko reached them, the two tackling the Cures.

"Natsuko, hey! Let go of me!" Nagisa said as she held her ground and tried to pry Natsuko off of her when she heard the roar of the Zakenna and moved quickly, tacking Natsuko along the way as they both barely avoided being crushed.

*snap!*

The sound of snapping fingers from Poisony seemed to do something to Natsuko as she got on the ground and started to roll off the building.

"Natsuko!" Quickly, Nagisa leaped and managed to grab the girl's hand in time before she fell.

"Black, what happened? Are you okay?" Honoka called out to her friend as she was busy trying to restrain Kyoko though her lack of experience of restraining people was making it difficult. Though Kyoko being stronger than she looked for some reason might also be the reason why she was struggling.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me!" Nagisa said as she pulled Natsuko up.

"That's right, you should take care of your friends." Poisony mockingly said. "Fall together."

With another snap of her fingers, a set of commands entered Natsuko's mind as just when she was about to be lifted up to safety, she grabbed Nagisa's arm with both hands and used her legs to push off the edge, dragging Nagisa with her.

"Black!" Honoka pushed Kyoko away before running to save her friend, barely making it in time to grab her hand.

"I'm saved…" Nagisa sighed in relief as Honoka managed to pull both girls up to safety.

"Ha! You're much too kind." Poisony said as she snapped her fingers again.

"White, behind you!" Nagisa cried out as Honoka turned and saw Kyoko lifting up a support beam. Obviously, whatever Poisony did to them gave them a boost in strength.

Kyoko then threw the support beam at them. Quickly, teaming up, Nagisa and Honoka were able to kick the support beam away from them where it crashed harmlessly to the ground below.

"Whew, that was surprising." Nagisa commented before turning to Kyoko. "Hey! Watch it! Someone could get hurt-wah!"

Nagisa never got to finish as Kyoko had spun a piece of stone at them. With quick reflexes, both girls dodged the stone thrown at them.

"What do we do? They're stronger than they look which makes it difficult to restrain them." Honoka said.

Nagisa gritted her teeth as she spoke. "Natsuko, Kyoko, wake up! Come to your senses!"

At that did Poisony laugh. "It's no use. Whatever you say is useless." Poisony once again snapped her fingers and both Natsuko and Kyoko started moving on their own once again.

"What are they…?" Honoka began before she saw both girls walking towards the edge. "No! Kyoko, don't do it!"

Quickly, both Honoka and Nagisa acted and reached the girls, grabbing them before they could jump to their death.

"Natsuko, snap out of it!" Nagisa pleaded but the girl still did not respond.

Once again, Poisony laughed evilly. "You two are so busy just trying to help them. If you don't choose between the two, you'll just keep repeating the same thing."

"Hikyou mono (You coward)!" Nagisa exclaimed angrily, glaring over at Poisony.

"I prefer being called a clever strategist." Poisony said.

'Strategist my butt!' Nagisa thought.

"Fight us properly!" Honoka demanded.

"If it's a fight you want, I'll be happy to provide you one." Poisony said as she snapped her fingers, summoning forth another Zakenna which fused with an excavator.

"ZAKENNA!"

With the new addition of the Zakenna, it used its claw-pincer like claw to 'bite' away at the pillars that supported the building. The wrecking ball Zakenna also chipped in, destroyed other pillars by simply crashing into them.

"Run!" Nagisa shouted as she dragged Natsuko with her with Honoka doing the same to Kyoko.

Running down the stairs, the four made out in time as half of the building crumbled like a badly made sand castle.

"Tch! Running away like scuttling cockroaches." Poisony commented as her Zakenna approached the girls. Poisony then felt something, something dark underground and smirked. "But it won't be long now."

With Natsuko and Kyoko behind them, both Nagisa and Honoka stood their ground as the pair of Zakenna approached them.

"What do we do now?" Honoka asked as she took a stance.

"Well, there are two of them." Nagisa said as she also took a stance. "I'll take the one with the wrecking ball, you take the excavator."

"But what about Natsuko and Kyoko?" Honoka asked.

Nagisa didn't answer as she didn't have one. But then, with the sound of a snap from Poisony…

"Eh?"

"Where are we?"

Both Nagisa and Honoka looked behind them to see that the dazed look Natsuko and Kyoko had were gone. They were no longer under Poisony's control.

"I have no more use for them." Poisony said. "You can all get a taste of true fear by dying together."

"Why you…!" Nagisa growled as she and Honoka were about to take action when suddenly…

*Bam!*

Emerging from the ground were a pair of hands as they grabbed Nagisa's legs ad before she could even blink in confusion, she screamed as she was dragged into the ground, leaving behind hole where she stood.

"Black!" Honoka quickly went to the hole and looked down to see what had happened to her friend only to see pitch black darkness. She glared over to Poisony and demanded, "What did you do!?"

"Why do you think I did anything?" Poisony said, feigning ignorance as she smiled evilly. "If you want to be angry at anybody it should be the Grongi that dragged your friend down."

'Grongi!?' Honoka thought in surprise before suddenly, something appeared from underground, jumping out and landing in between the two Zakenna.

What appeared was humanoid in appearance. It's body was covered in dirty brown fur, from head to toe. A leather breast places covered its upperbody while a fauld was wrapped around its waist though left an opening for a small fur tail to come out. Bronze greaves and gauntlets covered its legs and arms. Finally, its head was that of a rabbit through it didn't appearance the least bit cute, more like ferocious.

At the sight of the rabbit monster did Honoka tense up while the girls behind her shook in fear. This was the first time they've seen it yet something told them that what was in front of them was…

"A-A-A-An…!"

"U-U-Unidentified…!"

"Lifeform!" Honoka finished for the girls. "What did you do to Black!?"

"Who? Oh, you mean the female Linto I just dragged underground." The Grongi spoke, speaking Japanese instead of its personal language. "Hehe, don't worry. You won't have to worry about her for long. It'll take a while but she'll soon die like the rest."

"You…!" Honoka growled as she glared at the Grongi.

"If you're so worried for her, I can send you down to her right now." The Grongi said as he leaped towards Honoka, his speed surprising Honoka as she was punched in the gut so hard she was sent flying back and crashed into one of the walls of the still standing building, coughing up saliva as she dropped to the ground.

"White!" Natsuko and Kyoko cried out in worry before they both froze when they felt a gaze boring right down on them. Turning slowly, they found that the Grongi was staring down at them.

"Well, two more Lintos. What should I do about you?"

Both girls wanted to scream but all that came out of their mouths were jumbled noises, backing away as fast as they could while the Grongi walked up to them.

"N-No…"

"S-Stay away!"

"No…" Honoka groaned as she tried to pick herself up. "L-Leave t-them alone!"

"Hmph! Even after two centuries, you Lintos are still the same, weak. I'll be doing the world a favor by getting rid of weaklings like you." The Grongi said as it lifted up one hand, its nails as sharp as knives.

"No…" Natsuko muttered in fear.

"S-Somebody…! Save us!" Kyoko pleaded for anyone to hear.

And to her fortune, someone did.

*VROOM!*

From behind a pile of rubble, Dai on the Trychaser appeared, surprising the Grongi as the Rider slammed into it, sending it flying back as Dai came to a stop.

"Daijōbudesu ka(Are you alright)!?" Dai asked, turning to Natsuko and Kyoko only to find them unconscious. "They fainted. Guess I won't have to keep my helmet on." Taking off his helmet, Dai soon used the radio equipped to his bike. "Can anyone hear me, this is No. 4."

-We hear you No. 4- Ryō's voice came through.

"I've located No. 27. He's at a construction site near the downtown central mall."

-Got it. We're on our way to provide back-up.-

"Please hurry. I have two civilians here." Dai said as he turned to Natsuko and Kyoko only to see Honoka up ahead. "Honoka-chan!" Quickly, he got turned off the radio before getting off his bike and ran towards the Cure.

"Ichi-kun, am I glad to see you." Honoka said as she was helped up by Dai.

"I'm glad I got here in time." Dai said before looking around. "But where's Nagisa-chan?"

"She needs help." Honoka said, holding her gut as she pointed to the hole Nagisa was dragged into. "She was dragged underground by that Grongi."

"She what!?"

"Hehe, There's nothing you can do, Kuuga." The Grongi said as it got up. "I dragged that Linto 300 feet into the ground. She won't be crawling out of that."

"Me-Uzaa-Da…!" Dai growled.

"Hahaha! She's that deep? She must be cramped down there." Poisony laughed at Dai's expression. "With that deep of a hole, there's no way you can save her."

"We'll see about that." Dai said before looking up into the sky and shouted, "Gouram!"

*zzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

Suddenly, from the sky, the sound of buzzing can be heard as appeared from above was the Armored Machine Gouram, flying down at top speed. Reciving mental commands from its master, the sentient horse armor dived down and crashed into the ground, spinning around as it dug into the ground. Finally, after about 20 seconds, the ground exploded and from the dust and dirt was Gouram with a dirt coverd Nagisa in its pincers.

"Black!" Honoka cried out, happy that her friend was alright.

"What!?" Poisony shouted in disbelief, both at Gouram and what it just did. "What the hell is that thing!?"

"Tch! The horse armor." Uzaa clicked its tongue.

"Nagisa-chan!" Dai and Honoka ran over to where Gouram landed, setting down Nagisa as the girl herself was busy coughing up puffs of dirt out of her mouth.

"*Cough, cough, cough!* D-Dai-kun…" Nagisa wheezed as she looked up at the boy.

"Are you alright?" Dai asked as he and Honoka knelt down to see if the girl was alright.

"Somehow…" Nagisa said as her body shook a little. Before she could even understand what had happened, she was dragged underground and was left there, all cramped up and in an uncomfortable position. She could see a thing and she kept inhaling dirt, making it hard to breath. Her heart had beated faster than ever before as the fear of death felt so near that she almost cried out for help. It was easily one of, if not the most scariest experience of her life.

"Tch! Zakenna!" With a snap of her fingers, Poisony commanded her Zakenna to attack.

"ZAKENNA!"

Seeing the two Zakenna, Dai grabbed both girls by the waist and jumped away, avoiding being crushed by the wrecking ball Zakenna as Dai landed and set both girls down before he got up and summoned the Arcle.

"Henshin!"

Doing the hand motions before shouting out, Dai was soon donned in his Mighty Armor and took a stance.

"Girls, get back." Dai said.

"We can help." Honoka insisted as she and Nagisa got up.

"No!" Dai shouted, making the girls jump up in surprise. "This is my fight. You girls have nothing to do with it. Just take Natsuko-chan and Kyoko-chan to safety."

"But-!" Nagisa was about to speak up but went into another coughing fit before Dai jumped away from them.

"Prepare yourself, Me-Uzaa-da! You've taken your last life!" Dai declared in Grongi language.

"Hmph! Let's see you try!" Uzaa responded back as it along with the Zakenna's fought Dai.

Dai met up with Uzaa first, the both of them throwing out a fist that met each other, causing a loud bang to be heard before Dai was forced back to avoid getting grabbed by the excavator Zakenna. Then, from his left, the wrecking ball Zakenna charged toward him but he simply jumped and kicked it back, flipping back and landed on his feet in time to see Uzaa leaping towards him, its speed surprising Dai as he got tackled into a pile of rubble. From said rubble, both fighters popped out and Dai ducked under a swinging arm before shooting his arm out and struck Uzaa across the stomach, making it stumble back before Dai jumped back from laser beams that appeared from the excavator Zakenna but was struck from behind by the wrecking ball Zakenna, sending him flying towards Uzaa who jumped into the air and kicked Dai across the chest, sending him crashing into the half destroyed building. Seconds later, Dai came out, covered in dirt but still able to fight as he charged back into the fray.

"Ichi-kun's outnumbered." Honoka noted as she and Nagisa watched their friend fight.

"He can't keep this up." Nagisa said as she and Honoka placed down Natsuko and Kyoko down a safe distance away from the fight before turning around to go and help the Rider when the sound of sirens entered their ears and they turned to see approaching police cards and vans. "The police!"

Skidding to a stop, multiple vehicles stopped just right in front of the construction site before men started pouring out. From the vans came men donned in full protection, wielding shields and guns in their hands while from the cars came policemen and detective alike. Amongst them was Ryō who ran over to the girls with his rifle in hand.

"Girls! Are you alright?" Ryō asked once he made it over to them before seeing Natsuko and Kyoko. "Who are these two?"

"We're fine." Honoka answered Ryō's first question before answering his second question. "These two are friends of ours, they got caught up in our fight."

"I see. We'll look after them." Ryō said before Hiroshi went over to him.

"Is it me, or am I seeing an excavator that looks like it just came out of a bad monster movie and a wrecking ball that looks like a rejected version of a Chain Chomp from Mario?" Hiroshi asked.

"No, we all see it too." Ryō said as some of the other men were giving the Zakenna weird looks. "In any case, take these two girls to safety. I'm gonna back up Dai."

Hiroshi nodded as he plus another man took Natsuko and Kyoko to safety before Ryō turned his attention to the fight, loading his gun. His primary target was the Grongi but if he could somehow do something about the Zakenna too, then even better.

"Ready!" Over with the men, Rai stood over a group of men who held their shield up, forming a defensive formation as all guns were pointed at the enemy. "Ute(Fire)!"

*BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!*

Bullets flew and they all struck Uzaa and the Zakenna. Unfortunately, they did little as Uzaa's body resisted the bullets while the Zakenna barely paid attention to it, their bodies being made of metal.

"Dammit!" Rai cursed.

"Hmph! Foolish humans." Poisony from where she was at scoffed at the men down below before snapping her fingers. "Zakenna, take care of those men first."

"ZAKENNA!"

Following her orders, the Zakenna turned their attention to the men.

"No!" Dai exclaimed as was about to run but was kicked back by Uzaa.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Get out of my way!" Dai said as he traded blows with the Grongi.

"Well, shit! Here they come!" Rai said as the approaching Zakenna approached them and all men scrambled to reload when Nagisa and Honoka stepped forth.

"We'll take care of this!" They both said as they charged towards the Zakenna.

"Hey, wait!" Rai called out to them but they were already ahead.

Both Zakenna's roared as they attacked the two Cures. The excavator attacked with its claw-like appendage but Honoka jumped before kicking it, sending it back a little. Meanwhile, the wrecking ball Zakenna attempted to ram and crush Nagisa only to be kicked away by a nicely timed dropped kick by said girl. With the Zakenna away, she turned her attention over to Dai who was still fighting before deciding to go help the Rider, running over to them.

"Take this!" Nagisa shouted as she jumped and attacked with a flying kick to Uzaa but the Grongi had heard her and simply moved out of the way as her kick ended up hitting Dai instead.

"Oof!" Dai grunted in surprise as he and Nagisa went tumbling to the ground. Quickly, he got up and yelled, "What are you doing!?"

"I was just trying to help!" Nagisa yelled back as she got up too only to be pushed away as Dai kicked an attacking Uzaa away.

"This is my fight! You have nothing to do with it!" Dai shouted, turning to her.

"What do you mean this has nothing to do with me!?" Nagisa shouted back as for some reason, those words made her angry. "I'm not some helpless girl! I can fight too!"

"Uzaa almost killed you!" Dai shouted. "These Grongi were never supposed to be in this world so it's up to me to take care of them! Besides, Honoka-chan needs your help!" Dai then pointed over to said girl who was busy taking care of the Zakenna.

"Could use some help here!" Honoka shouted over to them before she was batted over to them when the wrecking ball Zakenna scored a lucky hit.

"White!" Nagisa quickly went to the girl's side and helped her up.

"Leave this to me, only I can do this." Dai said as he turned back to Uzaa who was tapping its foot.

"You done talking yet?"

"No!" Interrupting the Grongi, Nagisa spoke as she grabbed Dai and forced him to turn to her. "We're not done talking here! What makes you think you're the only one who can fight these monsters!?"

"These monsters have nothing to do with you!"

"The heck!? I wasn't the one who ran into it! It came to me, just like how others have been attacking the people of this city! I can't just stand by and do nothing if I see one!"

"If you see one then you shouldn't mess with it!"

"White and I have fought these things before! Are you saying you don't want us to fight these guys!?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying!"

"What!? Says who!? Who are you to tell us we can't deal with these guys just like how we handle the Dark Zone!?"

"The Dark Zone are nothing like the Grongi!"

"They both put people in danger! How is that so different!? Don't you trust us!? Aren't we friends!?"

"If we're friends then do you believe what I said a week ago!?"

"Of course not! How can anyone believe something as unbelievable as that!?"

"So you really don't believe me!"

"That's enough!" A third voice belonging to Honoka interrupted the two as she pushed Dai and Nagisa away from each other. "You two keep going back and forth and it's starting to get annoying." While Honoka had great patience for things, even she had a limit.

"He/She started it!" Dai and Nagisa pointed at each other.

"I don't care who started it but I'm ending it!" Honoka shot back, quieting the two. She then turned to Nagisa and asked, "Black, do you really not believe in what Ichi-kun told us a week ago?"

Still angry at said Rider, Nagisa said, "Of course! How can I believe something as crazy sounding as what he said? He's obviously lying to us!"

"But he's not! I believe in him." Honoka confessed.

"What!? How can you believe him!?" Nagisa said, not knowing that Dai had a pained expression under his helmet. "What he said was too farfetched!"

"True, it is hard to believe, but you've known Ichi-kun just as long as I have. So both you and I know that no matter how hard he tries, Ichi-kun is a bad liar for he always stutters when he tries to. When he tells the truths, he stands strong and looks at whoever he's speaking to right in the eye."

Nagisa could not say anything to argue against what Honoka said for her friend…was right. No matter how hard he tries, Dai will always stutter while trying to tell a lie. No matter what the deed he done, Dai will always tell the truth and face the consequences. No matter what, Ichi Dai will always be the most honest person she's ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Which is why she found it hard to believe that what Dai had told her, about his powers and the Grongi being nothing but fiction, were true. Dai did not stutter when he spoke to her and Honoka, his eyes did not once make an attempt to look away from them when he spoke. But the words that spewed from his mouth were so out of this world, the logic part of her brain could not believe it. And since it could not believe it, it came to one conclusion.

He must be lying.

Nagisa felt like punching herself in the face. Since when did her brain have the capacity to do that? She knew she wasn't very smart compared to Honoka but she was not dumb. She should know when Dai was telling the truth or not. Plus, Mepple and Mipple came from another world and she believed them. But the info that she was fed was too much that she couldn't take it. She couldn't handle it. So she denied it.

'I can't believe what I did.' Nagisa thought as she turned to Dai…and bowed. "Gomen'nasai(I'm sorry)!"

"Eh?" From under his helmet, Dai raised an eyebrow.

"For not believing in you." Nagisa said as she raised her head up to the Rider. "What you told us that day…it was simply unreal. I couldn't wrap my head around it. So I denied it. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm sorry."

"Nagisa-chan…" Dai goes and places a hand on the girl's shoulder, pushing her out of her bowing position to face her eye to eye. "The truth is, I expected either of you girls to not believe what I said. Yet when you did say you couldn't believe it, I felt hurt. I felt that since you didn't believe me, you didn't trust me enough as one of your friends so I acted immaturely and avoided you and Honoka-chan. If anyone should be sorry, it's me."

"No! I'm the one who's sorry! We've known each other for a year and yet I didn't believe in you. I'm sorry."

"No, I thought our relationship would change since I thought you didn't trust me. I'm the one who should be sorry."

"No, I'm the one who-!"

*BANG!*

"ARGH!"

Dai and the girls jumped in surprise at the sound of the gunshot followed by the sound of a cry of pain. Looking, they see Ryō with the barrel of his rifle smoking a little, having fired his gun. Turning to see who he had shot at, they saw Poisony gripping her bleeding hand.

"Are you three done yet?" Ryō asked as he set down his rifle. "You three were talking so much that you didn't notice you were being surrounded."

True to his words, the two Zakenna had snuck up behind them while they had been talking while Uzaa was still standing where he was at, waiting for Dai to finish talking with the girls.

"Ehehehehe…" Dai and the girls laughed nervously as they scratched their heads, looking apologetic.

"You…You insects!" Posiony yelled as she glared hatefully down at Ryō and the police. "How dare you make me bleed! I'll have your head for this!"

"Good luck trying!" Hiroshi shouted over to her while he took out something and handed it to Rai. "Kuzaragi-san, here. Use this."

Rai took whatever Hiroshi gave him and his eyes widen at what was in his hands.

"Isn't this…a grenade?" Rai asked, holding up the small bomb in his hand. "How did you-?"

"My brother is a part of the JSDF. He heard about how I'm taking care of the Unidentified Lifeforms here so he sent me some things that could help. Although keep it a secret because he isn't allowed to do this."

"Well…" Rai began as he turned the grenade in his hand. "That's one helpful brother of yours." He then turned back to the battlefield, eyeing the two Zakenna in particular. "Time to show that you shouldn't underestimate humanity!"

Hiroshi nodded in agreement before he and Rai pulled the pins and threw the grenades as hard as they could, smiling as they saw them land right next to the Zakenna.

"Everyone, get down!" Rai shouted as every man did just that, those with shields keeping said guard up as Dai tackled both girls down, covering them with his arms as the Zakenna looked down at their feet. It was too late before they could even do anything.

*BOOM-BOOM!*

The explosion almost knocked those with shields down from the shockwave as rubble and debris flew over Dai and the girls. Following the explosions were the sounds of pained cries of the Zakenna. Looking up, Dai and the girls saw that the wheels the Zakenna needed to move around were blown to bits.

"Yosha(Alright)!" Rai cheered, smiling at his and Hiroshi's results.

"Onore(Why you)…!" Poisony growled and glared down at the men only to flinched when she saw guns pointed up to her.

"Now, how about you come down from there and surrender." Ryō said, one finger on the trigger of his rifle.

"Me? Surrender to you? Never!" Poisony said as with a flap of her cape, she vanished.

"She's gone!" One of the men said in surprise.

"Forget about her, we still got enemies to deal with." Ryō said as he turned back to where Dai and the girls were.

"I didn't think they have grenades." Nagisa said, stunned.

"Yeah, me too." Dai said, also stunned.

"…Ichi-kun," Honoka spoke up after snapping out of her stupor at what just happened. "You said the fight against the Grongi was your responsibility, right?" She then gestured to the police that surrounded the construction site. "Well, I don't think that responsibility isn't just yours. You have so much help here."

"…Yeah…" Dai nodded, smiling under his helmet before turning to the unmoving Zakenna's. "So, what do you want to do about these?"

"We'll take care of this." Nagisa said, Honoka nodding in agreement before they clasp hands together.

"Black Thunder!"

"White Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

From the skies, the pair of black and white thunderbolts rained down and struck the girls, surrounding them in powerful light.

"Purikyua no utsukushiki tamashī ga…"

"…Jaaku na kokoro wo uchikudaku!"

From over at Ryō's side, he, Rai, and Hiroshi simply watched, having watched this phenomena before along with half of the men with them. The other half, however, were watching in awe as they have never seen the girl's fight.

"What are they doing?" One of the men asked.

"You might want to cover your eyes for this. It's gonna get bright." Rai said before the girls shouted.

"Pretty Cure Marble Screw!"

Thrusting their hands forward, the colored bolts shot out of their hands and spiraled towards the Zakenna as without their wheels, they could not escape as the attack struck and did its job as soon, all that was left were wrecked wrecking balls and an excavator followed by tiny Zakenna stars muttering apologies.

"What the hell?" Hiroshi commented as this was the first time for everyone to see the outcome of the girls' attack.

"And that takes care of that." Honoka said.

"Now," Nagisa began as she and Honoka turned around, standing next to Dai as the three of them faced Uzaa who had his arms crossed. "For you."

"Finally done, about time." Uzaa said as he uncrossed his arms and looked at his surroundings. "The situation for me is a bit unfair, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but we humans don't exactly play fair most of the time." Dai said as he and the girls took a stance while in the back, the men all aimed their guns at the Grongi.

"Heh, well then," Uzza then took a stance of his own, crouching down as if ready to leap. "Show me what you got!" And with that, he leaped.

"Ute(Fire)!" Ryō shouted as he and the others all fired their guns but the Grongi was fast as all the bullets simply flew passed him harmlessly as he closed the distance between him and Dai as Uzaa came in with a drop kick.

"Chou Henshin!"

There was the sound of a pulsing sound before Uzaa kicked out and his drop kick connected with Dai's chest as the Rider himself skidded back but that's all he did as he stomped his foot and came to a stop.

"What!?" Uzaa exclaimed in surprise. Why didn't the Rider get sent flying back?

The answer came when he saw Dai's form. Instead of being in his Mighty form, Dai had changed into his Titan form, its defense helping him withstand Uzaa's kick.

"I've got you!" Dai declared as he quickly grabbed Uzaa's legs before he could jump away.

Dai considered himself lucky that his transformation was able to kick in on time. It took a while but he had figured out how Uzaa was so fast and all it took was a look at Uzaa's rabbit-like head. Rabbits are known for being fast when they hop around so Dai had figured that Uzaa was not fast, his jumping ability was simply so great that when he jumped he obtained a short term burst of speed, powering up his attacks by sheer momentum. With that thought in mind, Dai decided that the only way to catch the rabbit was to take its attack and lucky for him, he had just the form to tank hits and give back just as much. But he reminded himself right now that he wasn't fighting alone.

"Nagisa-chan!" Dai shouted as he spun Uzaa around a bit before chucking him towards the girl.

With a battle cry, Nagisa leaped into action and caught Uzaa in midair. But she wasn't done there as she spun in midair before using her strength to slam Uzaa down hard to the ground. Nagisa then releases the Grongi and backs up to create some distance as Uzaa gets up. As he looks up, he sees Nagisa running towards him before jumping and coming in with a flying kick. Uzaa quickly moves to dodge the kick before he swings his leg around aiming right for Nagisa's head but the girl ducked down in time before she sweeps her legs around and strikes Uzaa'a other leg, knocking the leg up to trip Uzaa. Just when he thought he was gonna meet face first with the ground he instead met face first with Nagisa's fist as she delivered a powerful uppercut that sent him up in the air.

"That's for dragging me underground!" Nagisa said before she grabbed Uzaa's leg while he was still in the air before she spun and then threw the Grongi towards Honoka. "White!"

Seeing the Grongi coming her way, Honoka jumped, spun and then, with perfect timing, kicked Uzaa right in the chest, sending the Grongi flying back and into a pile of debris. Seconds later, Uzaa reappears from the pile, throwing rubble and debris off of him before he was suddenly pelted by bullets, courtesy of the police.

"That's it! Keep pressuring him!" Rai shouted over the gun fire as he and every other men fired all the bullets they had at Uzaa.

"Tch! Damn Lintos!" Clicking his tongue, Uzaa goes and digs his hand into the ground before, with sudden surprising speed, burrows into the ground, leaving a hole.

"He dug through the ground that fast!?" Hiroshi said in surprise.

"Talk about making a fast rabbit hole." Rai commented.

"He's getting away!" Ryō said as he went to run towards the hole when he was stopped by the sudden appearance of Gouram which flew right in front of him.

"No need to worry, Ichijo-san." Dai said before turning to Gouram. "Gouram, dig."

The Gouram made noises that sounded like it was taking in Dai's command before its eyes flashed and it flew up into the air before diving right back down and crashing straight through the ground. The ground shook as everyone tried to retain their balance as multiple cracks formed from the earth until it all crumbled down into one big crater. Gouram bursts from the rubble and flew away as pieces of rubble are seen being moved before Uzaa appears, coughing as he pushes himself out of the rubble-filled crater.

"D-Dammit…" Uzaa grunted as he pulls himself out.

"I've got you now!"

"Huh-Argh!"

Hearing Dai's voice, Uzaa turns only to get slashed across the chest by Dai's Titan Sword, having used a nearby pipe on the ground to create said sword. Holding his bleeding chest, Uzaa uses the gauntlet of his free hand to defend against Dai's sword as best he could when the sound of thunder was heard behind him. Looking back, both Nagisa and Honoka were both summoning forth Black and White Thunder to them.

"Take this you ugly rabbit!" Nagisa shouted as she and Honoka thrusts out their hand and fire their signature finisher, the Marble Screw.

Using his jumping ability, Uzaa jumped into the air, avoiding the finisher as it was headed straight towards Dai. Unknown to the Grongi, however, this is what Dai wanted as he lifted up his Titan Sword and positioned it right in front of him as the sword and the Marble Screw met. To Uzaa and many other's surprise, instead of being pushed back, the Marble Screw seemed to be absorbed by the Titan Sword as soon, the blade was glowing white and black with crackles of electricity of the same colors wrapping around it.

"Hissatsu!" Dai shouted as he took off into a run towards Uzaa who landed back on the ground.

Seeing the powered blade in Dai's hand, Uzaa went to make a quick escape but was foiled by Gouram who flew up from behind and grabbed him in its pincers, flying straight towards Dai.

"Take this!" Dai yelled as Gouram threw Uzaa towards Dai where he thrusted his glowing sword forward. "Calamity Marble Titan Screw!"

*STAB!*

Dai's blade went through as the blade came out the other side of Uzaa. But Dai's finishing attack did not end there as a blast of black and white spiraling around into the Marble Screw shot out of Uzaa at point blank range, causing Uzaa to scream in pain as cracks appeared around his body and slowly went to his belt.

Uzaa then suppressed his screams of pain to look at Dai right in the face. "Not…bad…Kuuga!"

*BOOM!*

With those finals words spoken, Uzaa soon exploded right in front of Dai who was unharmed despite being so close. When the dust cleared, Dai is seen standing where he was, sword stilled out before he relaxes.

"It's over." Dai breathes out a sigh of relief before turning to where the girls were who simply stared at him, as if waiting for something. Smiling behind his helmet, Dai goes and gives them a thumbs up, getting the girls to smile back as they returned the gesture with one of their own.

Over with Ryō, the man smiled at the three, glad to see they've now made up as some of them men with him started talking about what they had just seen, mostly about the girls.

"Well, so much for keeping it a secret." Rai commented as he shouldered his rifle before getting out a cigarette. Now that the battle was over, he could relax a bit.

"I know I promised to keep it a secret, but I don't think these guys will do the same." Hiroshi said as one or two of them would no doubt report this to HQ. He then asked Ryō, "What should we do?"

"Hmm…" Ryō hummed in thought as Dai and the girls ran over to them.

"Ichijo-san!" Dai called over to the man. "How are Natsuko-chan and Kyoko-chan?"

"They're fine, just unconscious." Ryō said before turning to the girls. "I didn't think we'd find you girls fighting here."

"Yeah, we seem to be running into each other a lot more often." Nagisa said, laughing awkwardly as she tried to ignore the stares some men were giving her and Honoka.

"It's amazing how many men are here." Honoka said, looking around at all the men that came here to fight.

"Our group was specially created to combat the Unidentified Lifeforms and with the kid's help, we've been able to hang in there." Rai said. "You won't find braver men here that are willing to risk their lives to protect this city and its citizens."

Nagisa and Honoka let out noises of awe, amazed at how many brave adults here were willing to fight for the people.

"Man, I'm jealous, Dai-kun." Nagisa said as she turned to Dai. "You have all these reliable adults here with you. Kind of makes me wish we had their help too."

That's when a lightbulb lit up in Ryō's head.

'Hmm…maybe that can be arranged…'

He then shook his head to get rid of the idea. These were girls even younger than Dai. He couldn't possibly ask for their help and vice versa.

"By the way, where are Natsuko and Kyoko?" Honoka asked as she saw no sign of the girls around.

"They're in the car." Rai said, pointing a thumb over to a police car where said girls were resting.

"There were no signs of any injuries but just to be safe, we'll take them to the hospital to get checked up. After that, we'll talk to them about what happened." Ryō explained.

"That's good. Please take care of them." Honoka said.

"And if you could, could you try and convince to stop pretending to be Pretty Cure? We don't want them to get caught up in our fight." Nagisa asked.

Ryō nodded. "I'll be sure to do that."

"Well, all's well that ends well, right?" Dai said, smiling under his helmet.

"Well, we do have one more thing to ask." Nagisa said.

"Hm? What is it?"

At Dai's question did Nagisa raise her hand…and point dramatically at Gouram. "What the heck is that thing!?"

"I would like to know that too." Honoka said.

"Oh yeah, you've never met." Dai scratched the side of his helmet before gesturing to Gouram. "Girls, this is the Armored Machine Gouram, or just Gouram for short. You can say he's kind of like a partner who helps me in my fights. He's also, believe it or not, horse armor."

"Horse armor?"

"Yeah."

"Why does it look like a stag beetle?"

"I really don't know."

"How can it fly?"

"It has wings."

"What's it made of?"

"A lot of metal, that's all I can say."

"Where did you get this?"

"It's from Nagano and it actually came to me."

"Can it talk?"

"You girls are asking too many questions."

As Dai and the girls kept going back and forth, the adults all decided now was a good time to take their leave and let the three have their moment alone.

---

(The Next Day)

"So they said they'd stop being pretty Cure?"

"That's what Ichijo-san said."

"That's good to hear. Now we won't have to worry about them."

The mood in the air around Dai and the girls was as normal as could be. Unlike how tense Dai was around the girls before, it's safe to say everything has now returned to normal, much to the three's pleasure.

"Man, I hope the Dark Zone don't attack for at least another week or two. Break is almost here and my dad made some reservations at some resort without telling me." Nagisa said before turning to Honoka. "What are you going to do during break, Honoka?"

"I'm also going on a trip with my Obāchama. I promised her we'd go to this old inn by a lake. There's this rumor surrounding an island that says that mysterious phenomena still happen even today." Honoka smiles as she thinks of the upcoming trip. "Oh, I feel like I might encounter something exciting!"

"Well, it's good to hear that you girls have plans for this upcoming break." Dai said. "As for me, I'm staying to help Ichijo-san and the others. Just because breaks coming doesn't mean the Grongi won't stop attacking people. I need to be here to help out whenever I can."

"Oh, that sucks. Dad wanted to bring you on the trip, said you might enjoy it." Nagisa said, sadden that Dai wasn't coming.

"Maybe next time."

"You still have to explain to us what the Grongi are. Nagisa and I believe you're from another world but that doesn't mean our questions can't go unanswered." Honoka said.

"I promise to explain everything once you girls get back." Dai promised as he fully intended to tells the girls everything this time.

Then, suddenly, Dai came to a stop.

"What's wrong?" Nagisa asked, wondering why the Rider had stopped when he pointed to his left. Turning, she and Honoka were met with an unbelievable sight.

""Hikari no shisha, Cure Black!"

"Cure White!"

"Pretty Cure…Henshin!"

Said unbelievable sight was Natsuko and Kyoko pretending to be Pretty Cure once again, performing in front of kids.

"…Dou suru(What should we do)?" Honoka asked.

Nagisa turned to Dai for help. "Dai-kun?"

"Sorry, you're on your own for this one." Dai said, keeping a straight face as on the inside, he was laughing.

"Go back to the darkness from which you came!" Natsuko and Kyoko said as one.

Honoka placed a hand over her head, feeling a small headache coming as Nagisa said, "It's 'Return' dammit…"

Finally, Dai couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud.

---

And…done! Wow, that took a while but I got it done. There were some ups and downs here and there and I feel like I may have made Nagisa a bit OOC, hopefully that's not the case from the reader's perspectives, but I managed to get something that satisfies me and I hope it does the same to you readers. I bet you're surprised I used a Grongi that was never seen in Kuuga. I figured that I would blow through all the Grongi that were shown on TV before I could even get to the middle of the season so I decided to use some not seen on camera Grongi, hope you liked it.

Anyway, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. And as always, here's…

---

Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts

"Hello minna-san!" Mepple spoke through the mic as he, Mipple, and their partners appeared on stage. "After two long months, we're finally back-mepo!"

"What took the author so much time to do this?" Nagisa asked.

"He was focusing on one of his other stories. But we're not here to talk about that. We're here for some more Rider info and today. We'll be looking at Dai's new finishing move-mepo!" Mepple said as appearing on screen was the attack used on Uzaa.

"He called it the Calamity Marble Titan Screw." Honoka said, remembering what Dai had shouted out.

"That's right-mipo." Mipple nodded as she began to explain the move. "Much like the Marble Mighty Screw Kick, the Calamity Marble Titan Screw is a combination attack-mipo. First off, the girls fire their signature Marble Screw at Dai where he raises his Titan sword and seemingly absorbs the attack into the blade-mipo. I use 'seemingly' because it's actually not absorbing it; the energy of the attack is actually wrapping around the blade thus why it glows white and black-mipo."

"But how does Dai-kun know where to point his sword at? If he misaligns it, then he could end up getting hit instead." Nagisa asks.

"I think it's because when we do our attack, we first call upon thunder." Honoka said as she had an idea how Dai sets up the attack. "Despite looking like a blast of energy, we're actually firing thunder at our enemies, albeit it's probably not normal thunder. Ichi-kun probably doesn't need to align his sword for much like how lightning is attracted to metal, our attack is getting attracted to the metal blade of Ichi-kun's sword. Basically, he's using the principal of metal conducting electricity."

"That's right-mepo." Mepple said. "Then, once Dai has the energy wrapped around his blade, he runs up to his enemy and stab them through much like how he executes his regular Calamity Titan only once the blade is through does the Marble Screw blast his enemy at point blank range-mepo."

"Getting hit by a point blank Marble Screw must hurt." Nagisa commented.

"I would imagine so-mepo." Mepple said. "Anyway, that's all the time we have people. Next time, watch as both the girls and Dai get caught up in another one of Poisony's scheme, only this time she's bringing in some big guns-mepo. If you want to know what I mean then tune in next time-mepo! Untill then, see you next time-mepo!"

With that, all four of them waved goodbye as the title of the title of the next episode appears.

Next Time: A New Kind of Enemy!? Stress Full Throttle! Being the Madonna is Tough!